South Side High School students on Friday joined the director of the Cancer Action Network to urge legislative action prohibiting the sale of candy-flavored non-cigarette tobacco products.
Michael Davoli, legislative campaign director for the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, said products such as double apple-flavored cigarillos and blueberry-flavored wrapping paper is the “tobacco industry’s latest grasp to hook our kids.” He said that these products — some of which he had on display and said were purchased within five minutes of SSHS — are the industry’s workaround to a 2009 federal law banning flavored cigarettes.
“While cigarette use among youth is going down, non-cigarette use is going up,” Davoli said in a SSHS classroom. “The industry is targeting kids and something needs to be done.”
New York City has already passed legislation restricting the sale of candy-flavored, but the Cancer Action Network says that the state must now do the same. (Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also trying to pass a law restricting stores from displaying tobacco products.) The group hopes to get 10,000 signatures from Rockville Centre residents on postcards urging action be taken.
“This is really to hook kids on tobacco. The flavors make it seem more appetizing,” said SSHS student Lexie Slavin. “[The tobacco industry] shouldn’t be doing this, it’s not right.”
Davoli said that the sale of these candy-flavored tobacco products is the industry’s attempt to replace the about 400,000 people that die from tobacco use every year.
“This is a problem. It’s prevalent,” he said. “Unless something changes, these numbers will keep going up.”
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